


Darling, We're All A Little Splintered and Battered

by Tinker_b3ll3



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Beaujester Week, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, F/F, Happy Ending, Some angst, but not permanent, day 4: resurrection/rivivify
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 02:13:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20024866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tinker_b3ll3/pseuds/Tinker_b3ll3
Summary: My contribution to Beaujester week 2019.Seconds felt like hours, and Jester realized they were in a lot of trouble. She and Nott were with Caleb, now back in his human form, and had been trying to clear a way toward the door. She could see Caduceus and Fjord on the other side of the room doing the same. And Beau was… “Caleb, where’s Beau?!”“She was right behind me. She was supposed to follow.”





	Darling, We're All A Little Splintered and Battered

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from the song "Front Porch" by Joy WIlliams. Give it a listen if you can and thanks for reading.

Beau could taste iron on her tongue.  _ Oh fuck, that’s not good.  _ She searched the room for Jester or Caduceus, but her vision was blurry and it was getting harder to focus.  _ Come on, come on...there!  _ She caught a flash of light followed by a blue streak across the room. 

Using her staff for balance, she struggled to her feet. Her body protested and she was wracked by a fit of coughing that threatened to send her back to the floor. Each cough was agony, doubling her over in pain. When the coughing subsided, she was surprised she’d been able to stay standing. Wiping her mouth on the back of her hand, she felt it smear a warm wetness across her cheek.  _ Fuck. Need… to get… to Jester.  _

She lurched forward, swaying slightly, but refusing to succumb to the pain that was building throughout her body. She wasn’t sure what hit had finally been too much, the warhammer to the ribs, or when she’d been slammed against the wall, or if it had been everything put together. 

Step after step, she forced her eyes to focus.  _ There.  _ Jester had moved a few feet away, but Beau was inching closer. She stumbled, her feet feeling heavier and heavier. The blood loss was making her light headed and her usual dexterity was gone.  _ I’m not gonna make it.  _

Beau coughed, felt blood fill her mouth, and spit it to the side. She rasped in a breath, as deep as she could. Her lungs were burning.  _ This had to work. Please, please work. _ With all the strength she had left, she put everything into one word, “JESTER!”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The fight had gone bad in an instant. At first, they’d been doing great. Caleb had been able to use his giant cat’s paw to grab the demon, and she and Caduceus had been taking turns hitting him with their spiritual weapons. Fjord and Nott had been getting some good shots in as well, and Beau, well, Beau was on a roll. Nearly every hit was connecting, and even from a distance, Jester could tell that those hits were hard. At first, they’d been doing great. 

And then, they weren’t. It was almost like he’d been toying with them. Suddenly, he broke out of the cat’s paw. He stopped only long enough to draw the warhammer that was strapped across his back. It was a massive thing, at least as tall as Jester with a heavy iron head that curved into a wicked blade at the back. He roared and the battle became a blur of movement and spells. At some point, Jester wasn’t sure when, more of his guards had joined the fray and separated the Nein. 

Jester invoked duplicity, sending her duplicate to help Nott, while she took stock of the battle. Caleb had polymorphed at some point and there was now a giant gorilla was fighting 3 guards at once to her right. To her left, her duplicate had succeeded in getting Nott some room to reload her crossbow. Caduceus and Fjord were shooting spells, alternating between targeting the guards and targeting the demon. She thought she saw Beau running after the demon, but was quickly distracted by a sword slashing toward her. 

Seconds felt like hours, and Jester realized they were in a lot of trouble. She and Nott were with Caleb, now back in his human form, and had been trying to clear a way toward the door. She could see Caduceus and Fjord on the other side of the room doing the same. And Beau was… “Caleb, where’s Beau?!”

“She was right behind me. She was supposed to follow.”

“I don’t see her. Caleb, she’s not here!” 

Nott loosed another crossbow bolt and yelled, “BEAU! GET YOUR SKINNY BUTT OVER HERE! WE NEED TO LEAVE!”

Jester searched the room, hoping, praying to the Traveler that Beau might’ve made it outside already. She turned to Nott and Caleb, “Keep going toward the door, me and Beau will meet you --” 

“JESTER!”

The tiefling stopped dead in her tracks. She turned back to the battle and her blood ran cold. There, she saw Beau, bloodied and fallen onto her knees. But it was the demon behind her that had made Jester more scared than she’d ever been in her life. 

The demon had seen Beau as well and seemed to decide to finish the job. He raised his hammer, and walked toward Beau, making sure that Jester and the others were watching. His face contorted into a cruel smile, fangs bared. Jester couldn’t look away if she tried. Her eyes found Beau’s as the monk struggled to get to her feet again. She saw the demon whisper something to the human, before swinging the hammer with all his might. 

Jester screamed as he swung once, twice, three times, blood, Beau’s blood splattering across the front of his armor. 

“No, no, not Beau, no..” 

She was barely aware of the others yelling and renewing their attacks on the demon. 

“No.” 

She ran toward Beau, tearing away from Nott as she tried to pull her back. Jester avoided one attack, and gritted her teeth through the pain of another as she rushed to Beau’s side. 

The demon grinned at her and made to raise his hammer again, but Jester had already cast dimension door and was pulling Beau through. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The mountain air was cold and silent. She’d teleported them as far from the battle as she could. She hoped that the others would be able to escape and find them. As she gathered her bearings, she realized she was still clutching Beau’s limp form in her arms. 

“Beau? Please wake up,” she asked, shaking her friend gently, “pretty please?” 

Jester tried to stifle her sobs, checking Beau for any sign of life and finding none. 

Her breathing quickened and she pulled her haversack around, plunging her hand in and searching for one of the diamonds that she and Caduceus had bought. “I can fix this. I can fix this Beau, just hang on. The Traveler will help us.” 

Her fingers brushed against that telltale hardness, and she pulled the diamond from the bag. Jester sat on the snow, pulled Beau’s broken body into her lap, placed the diamond on the middle of Beau’s chest, and began to pray. 

“Traveler? I know you are very busy… but I really need your help right now.” She felt the tears flow over her cheeks, but kept going. “Beau needs your help right now. I know she doesn’t technically believe in you or worship any god, but she is a good person. She is strong and brave and smart and she lets me read my stories to her even though she says she doesn’t like them, and she’ll wear a dress to make me happy, and she tries her best to make things better than she finds them even though she thinks she’s an asshole. She is the best type of person and she deserves for us to help her. And… and I-,” Jester sobbed, and swallowed the lump in her throat, “I need her. I think I love her. So please, please, please bring her back. I don’t know what I would do without her.” 

She feels a warm presence at her back, and a familiar voice whispers in her ear, “That was beautiful, my child. I think this one still has some fight in her yet.” 

Jester hears the diamond shatter, and the presence recedes. Her eyes open just soon enough to see the glittering bits of light sink into Beau’s chest. A moment passes. And then, a gasp, and Beau’s chest rises and falls. Her eyes open and meet Jester’s and the tiefling is sure there has never been a more beautiful sight in the history of Exandria. 

“Jes? Where-,” Beau winces, “Ugh, ow. Why do I hurt so much? Hey, why are you crying?” 

Jester sniffles, and wipes her face with her sleeve, “I’m just super happy to see you.”   
Beau’s face goes somber, “Jester. What happened? Did I-?” She stops, looks around and recognizes the snowy clearing between the pines where they’d had breakfast that morning. “We’re outside? When did we-?,” she looks up at Jester’s tear-stained face once more, “I died, didn’t I?”

Jester bites her lip and nods, trying to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes again. 

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Beau sat up and pulled the tiefling into a hug. “I’m right here. You saved me. It’s okay now.” 

Jester sobbed, and clutches onto Beau, “I saw him kill you. And I was so scared, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to bring you back.”   
And Beau just held her, and Jester felt the rise and fall of Beau’s chest, reassuring her that the monk was alive and here and might be a little worse for wear, but they were going to be okay. 

They were still holding onto each other when the rest of the group caught up to them. 

Fjord cleared his throat, then said, “I’m glad to see you’re okay, Beau. And I hate to make you move so quick, but the cave-in we caused to slow him down won’t last for long, so we should really get outta here.” 

Beau chuckled, “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” Jester stood and helped her up, but didn’t let go of her hand. Beau just gave a little squeeze with her fingers, and smiled at the grateful look Jes gave her. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that night, when they’d made it back to the small mountain village they’d passed earlier and gotten a room at the inn, Beau found herself lying in bed wide awake, though her body was exhausted. She’d always considered the possibility that she might die on any random day, given their line of work, but she’d never really thought about how it might feel to die. It had been painful, of course, but what really got to her, the part that was keeping her up when she should have been asleep as soon as she got in bed, was that somewhere in between the fear and the pain and the actual act of dying and coming back, she’d felt a warmth. She wasn’t sure what it was. She’d never given too much thought to what happens after you die, but now she was one of the few people who could say she’s been there and back. If she had to describe it, it was like one second, there was pain and fear, and then nothing, and from that nothing, a warmth. That warmth was like stepping into a bakery on a winter’s day and the smell of bread and cinnamon filling your nose. Like going to the fair as a child and getting the biggest lollipop the candymakers had. 

She’d latched onto that warmth and followed it. And then she was looking into Jester’s eyes. The pain in her body had caught up a second later, but in that moment, she was at peace. But, then again, maybe she had only dreamed that part. 

“Jester. Psst. Hey, Jes.” 

“Yes, Beau?”

“Are you asleep?” 

“No. I’ve been having trouble.” 

“Me too,” Beau hesitated, then asked, “Do you maybe wanna crawl over here? We can share for tonight.”

“Yes, please. Is that okay?” 

“Yeah, I mean, if you want to, you know.” There was a moment of silence, and Beau internally cursed herself for fucking it up. Then, she heard Jester’s bed creak and she scooted over in her own as Jester walked over and crawled under the sheets.

A few minutes passed, and Beau assumed Jester must’ve fallen asleep, but then she heard a quiet, “Beau?”

“Yeah Jes?”

“When you were… dead, could you hear anything?”

“No. I don’t think so. Why?”

“Oh.” Jester bit her lip and debated whether or not to tell Beau about the ritual. “Well, when I was bringing you back, I said some things to the Traveler. About you.” 

Beau leaned up on one elbow and turned to look at the blue tiefling, “Good things? I don’t want the Traveler thinking badly of me now.”

Jester blushed, and was glad that humans didn’t have darkvision. “Yes, good things. Umm, I told him, how great you are, and how you let me read to you when we room together, and how you wore that dress for me even though you hate dresses, and how strong you are, and what a good person you are, and--” 

“And?”

Jester swallowed hard, “And that… I need you. So to please help me bring you back.” 

“You.. need me?” It was entirely sincere. Beau had always assumed that while Jester might be the closest thing she had to a best friend, it had never crossed her mind that Jester might feel the same. 

Now, Jester sat up and turned toward Beau. Though the room was dark, Jester could make out every detail of Beau’s face. The curve of her eyes, the way her hair fell over one side when she let it down for the night, how she looked so much happier when it was just the two of them. “Yes. Because you are my best friend, and I love you.” 

Beau’s eyes went wide, “Oh, umm, I love you too Jes, and not just cause you brought me back from the dead.” 

Jester sighed, “No, not like, a best friend ‘I love you’, but like a real I love you.” 

“Oh! Oh, I- I got confused, cause you said I was your best friend and-” 

Jester leaned in as Beau spoke, and gently kissed her. She pulled away and whispered, “I love you, Beau.”

Beau’s eyes went wide, “Oh. That kind of ‘I love you.’”

Jester hesitated, “I’m sorry, did I make it weird, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, I-” Beau leaned in and cut her off, kissing her fiercely.  _ Oh, this is what kissing is supposed to be like. Now she understands why her books talk about kisses being passionate and like a rush of magic through your veins when it’s with the right person.  _

When they finally pulled away from each other, Beau pressed her forehead against Jester’s, “I love you too, Jes.” 


End file.
